Tundra Climate Facts

What is Tundra?

The meaning of the word 'Tundra' is 'an area where the growth of trees is prevented due to low temperatures and short seasons that enable growth'.

These kinds of geographic areas are found near the North Pole and the South Pole. Thus, there is the Arctic Tundra and there is the Antarctic Tundra. There is another type of Tundra region, which is known as the Alpine Tundra.

In the tundra ecosystem, the vegetation primarily consists of mosses and lichens, and dwarf shrubs and grasses.

Tundra Facts: Arctic Tundra

The Arctic Tundra region is situated near the North Pole. The soil in the area is called 'permafrost' which means 'permanently frozen soil'. At least 25 to 90 centimeters of the ground is frozen. Thus it is impossible for trees to grow here. Due to this, vegetation is very hard to grow and very sparse to find. Moss, lichen and heath can be found on rocks in this barren landscape.

The people who live in the Arctic Tundra are mostly nomadic tribes consisting of reindeer hunters such as the Nenets and the Nganasan.

The Tundra climate consists of only two seasons: winter and summer. The region is frozen for the most part of the year. The average temperatures range from -28 Degrees Celsius (-18.4 Degrees Fahrenheit) to -50 Degrees Celsius (-58 Degrees Fahrenheit). During the summers the ice melts and forms streams, lakes, marshes and bogs. This makes the ground quite soggy. The temperatures during summer months range from 12 Degrees Celsius (53.6 Degrees Fahrenheit) to 3 Degrees Celsius (37.4 Degrees Fahrenheit). There is some amount of precipitation, but only in the summer months, ranging from 15 to 25 centimeters annually.

It is during these summer months, that plants grow and reproduce.

The interesting part about the Tundra Climate is that it is quite windy, with winds that blow upwards of 30 to 60 miles per hour.

Another interesting fact about the Tundra region is that in the summer months when the ice begins to melt, it cannot be absorbed into the ground. This is because only the upper layers of the permafrost melt, while the bottom layers are still frozen.

The tundra ecosystem is also very low in biodiversity. There are only about 1700 varieties of plants and about 48 varieties of land mammals found in the tundra region. The main animal population in the Arctic Tundra consists of reindeer, polar bears, arctic fox, arctic hare, snowy owls, lemmings and musk ox.

It is interesting to note that the Tundra region is also a vast storehouse of natural resources such as oil and uranium. It is because of these natural resources that many nations have turned their attention to these areas on the globe.

Tundra Facts: Antarctic Tundra

The Antarctic Tundra is found in the South Polar areas of the Earth. However this area is quite cold and does not support vegetation. It is always covered with ice fields.

However, at the fringes of the Antarctic Peninsula, there are areas of rocky soil which do support vegetation. One can find about 300 varieties of lichens, 700 varieties of aquatic algae, and about 100 varieties of mosses. There are not many large sized mammals found in the Antarctic Tundra. This area is the home of species such as the Penguins and Seals.

Alpine Tundra

Alpine tundra is that area of the earth's surface which does not support any vegetation due to its high altitudes. This can happen anywhere on the surface of the earth. This area also can contain permafrost soils.

Tundra Ecosystem: Threats

As mentioned above, the Arctic Tundra is a vast reservoir of oil and uranium. Due to this many countries are exploring for oil in these regions. This can severely damage the delicate balance of the tundra ecosystem.

Another threat is that about a third of the world's soil bound carbon is found in these regions. So when the permafrost melts in the summers, this carbon gets released into the atmosphere, adding to the 'Greenhouse Effect'. Since carbon is a greenhouse gas, this adds into the threat of Global Warming, which again forms a vicious cycle by causing more of the permafrost to melt each year.

Over a period of time, this could radically alter the lives of the living species of animals, but also flora and fauna, and subsequently the lives of all the people on the surface of the earth.

Many scientists and researchers are therefore spending a lot of time and effort into trying to analyze and reduce this growing threat to the tundra ecosystem.